U.S. grains: Soybeans hit one-week top

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. soybean futures set a one-week high on Thursday as worries about dry weather curtailing Argentina’s harvest overshadowed bearish data in a monthly U.S. Department of Agriculture report (USDA), analysts said. Corn futures firmed on strong export demand while wheat retreated on profit-taking after multimonth highs. Chicago Board of Trade March […] Read more






Total stocks of principal Canadian field crops at Dec. 31, 2017, rounded to nearest thousand tonnes. (StatCan.gc.ca)

Canadian canola stocks jump

CNS Canada — Stocks of Canadian canola have increased substantially, according to the latest estimate from Statistics Canada. Total stocks of oats, lentils and peas also rose, but not by as much as canola. StatsCan on Monday pegged canola stocks, as of Dec. 31, 2017 at 14.15 million tonnes, up from the 2016 total of […] Read more


Premature bleaching of infected spikelet in wheat.

Don’t let your guard down — fusarium still a risk

Dry weather greatly reduced the incidence of the fungal disease last year, 
but the threat is likely greater than ever

Reading Time: 3 minutes Producers should be on the lookout for fusarium head blight this year, even though the incidence of the fungal disease was down in 2017. “Forecasting head blight is really quite challenging,” said Mike Harding, a research scientist and plant pathologist with Alberta Agriculture and Forestry. Read more: Provincial legislation isn’t helping fusarium battle, say seed growers […] Read more

Fusarium head blight on wheat spike.

Provincial legislation isn’t helping fusarium battle, say seed growers

Grower groups argue a zero-tolerance approach is the wrong way to reduce its spread in Alberta

Reading Time: 3 minutes Fusarium graminearum is listed as a pest in the province, and that’s causing trouble for the crop industry. “Now that it’s in the pest act, it’s hard to get it out of the pest act,” said Ward Oatway, chair of the Alberta Seed Growers Association and owner of Oatway Seeds in Lacombe. His association, the […] Read more



(Scott Bauer photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

U.S. grains: Soybeans fall on weak exports, bumper Brazil harvest

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. soybean futures dropped for a second straight day on Thursday on technical selling and profit taking following government data showing lower-than-anticipated U.S. export sales last week. Forecasts for rain and cooler temperatures in Argentina by mid-February and an accelerating soy harvest in Brazil further weighed on prices. Corn and wheat […] Read more